"What we see before us is just one tiny part of the world. We get into the habit of thinking, this is the world, but that's not true at all. The real world is a much darker and deeper place than this, and much of it is occupied by jellyfish and things." Haruki Murakami

synopsis:Medusa Smack reminds us of our long ago origins as sea organisms, and invites installation visitors to return the sea floor and float among our cousins. A lovely diaphanous tent in jellyfish shape is suspended above large soft pillows, upon which one can recline and view the dreamy images of a smack, or group, of moon jellies and sea nettles drifting above. This video installation features a score composed and performed by Tara Jane O’Neil. The score was partially comprised with sounds recorded by the late Harry Bertoia on his own Sonambient sound sculptures, as well as a recording Tara made of 17th-century scholar and polymath Athanasius Kircher’s Bell Wheel at the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles. Thanks to Val Bertoia and David Wilson, respectively, for permissions granted.

premiere:2012 Oregon Biennial. It has also screened at The Centre Pompidou-Paris and Centre Pompidou- Metz late April 2012 with Tara Jane ONeil doing a live score for it. More projections at Other Cinema, San Francisco, Unknown Music Series #1 in Anacortes, WA., Northwest Film Forum in Seattle, Wa. , The Houston Cinema Arts Festival and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum in Eugene, Oregon.